Israel begins work on new settlement

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it is a Honor to begin the construction of the first new settlement in the occupied West Bank in 25 years.

Amona will be the first Jewish settlement in the West Bank for more than 25 years and will rehouse 40 families it evicted from a wildcat outpost in February 2017. The extensive construction in the meantime has focused on expanding existing settlements.

Netanyahu’s announcement comes a day after Trump’s special representative Jason Greenblatt arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on relaunching peace talks that collapsed in 2014.

Since 1992, much of the controversy surrounding Israel’s settlement construction in the occupied territories has revolved around expanding existing settlements.

The plan to construct the new settlement in Emek Shilo – close to the city of Ramallah – was condemned in March both at home and abroad.

As per the international Law, the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem are illegal and are considered as one of the prime reasons for the disruption of peace in the region.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu tweeted over a picture of a small bulldozer and a digger working on a rocky hill overlooking a vineyard.